Friday, 29 April 2011

My first "offical" post for TaDa Creative Studios as part of their design team is up today! I had a huge grin as I added the TaDa category to my sidebar. Be sure to head over HERE and check it out!

See that laser cut above? That's a TaDa product!! That's one of the things that originially drew me to this company. Sure, you could cut it out with your Cricut or Silhouette but then you wouldn't have all the fun matching papers and stamps that go with it!

Mizzy Moo and her flip flops! She still has difficulty walking in them, despite the year that has passed since I took that picture. The flip flop shuffle... It's pretty funny. I ought to take a video of it.

Wednesday, 27 April 2011

Another scrappy share, haven't done that in a while!! Allison's single page sketch is up this week over at Sketch Support! Today's layouts feature how to adapt the sketch to the picture you want to use versus the size specified! Be sure to check out the other interpretations on the site HERE.

My take is of Mizzy Moo diving into Valentine's day treats from Krispy Kreme! Who doesn't like a good sugar high on Valnetine's day? And what better thing to do than lick up every last morsel?

Allison has a place for journaling on the left hand side of the page under the title; that big wide open space there. But I loved my sanded, inked Core so much, I just had to leave it! Convenient, eh? Bummer, no journaling!! LOL!!

Sunday, 24 April 2011

First; we failed to check what time mass began and made the assumption that it was as normal. Having been away last Sunday, we weren't in the know of the change in times... And so, we not only couldn't park in the church lot but we were late! Unbeknownst to us, mass began at 9am this morning and so our 9:10 arrival, then deferred to 9:20 by the time we found parking, had us arrive just in time for the homily! Sitting in the lobby of the church with no screen in sight or "live" action made for some difficult concentration...

Second; Cake Pops... I should have known. I should have just learned from my sister's lesson and be done with the whole affair. But no, I'm stubborn (shh! don't tell anybody!) and I had to give them a go myself. And cake decorating is once again proven to not be one of my "things"!... The kids had fun helping where they could. And they tried hard ignore their Mother's need for perfection as she struggled with the coating of the cake balls in candy coating. They don't look perfect but I'm sure they taste pretty good. Sweet, very sweet. These are Easter dinner dessert tonight.

Yesterday we headed the other direction on 95 to visit my sister and her family and celebrate Easter. We did so in our usual Lee fashion; eating! We began with pho, moved to Chinese baked goods (had to eat some while waiting for a fresh batch of "dan tat's" to come out of the overn). Picked up some pancit to take home. Would have had lumpia too but they were out (sad me...). A little respite as we played Wii and went to the park. Then Easter dinner; Mihai had made a scrum-diddly-umptous roast pork with cracknel! Homemade applesauce, some yummies veggie, potats and a lovely lemon pudding to wrap it all up! Yum!!

So that, my friends and family, was our Easter! Hope you had a fantastic day! Happy Easter to you and yours!!

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

Our whole reason for coming out to Asheville; Chimney Rock! On my way back home from a scrappy retreat in SC, I had picked up a brochure for Chimney Rock. Nikolas was captivated and had his heart set on needing to visit. And so, the special trip to fulfill this desire. We zigged and we zagged our way up the mountain and across the Eastern Continental Divide just to wind our way back down before coming to the park. The elevator is closed for renovation so we hoofed it up to the top. The ladies at the gift shop said it was closed for a year! The views were pretty spectacular; not too much haze or blinding sun.

While we were here and in the hiking mode, we decided to push on to Hickory Nut Falls. The waterfall in the film “The Last of the Mohicans”. It was beautiful! Nikolas is getting old enough that I trust him with my camera. With the strap around his neck and very specific rules, of course! He took a nice picture of Michael and I.

We came down off the mountain just in time for lunch. More BBQ!! Some of the best smoked chicken I have ever had!! Definitely recommend the BBQ place by the beach at Lake Lure. I even tried collard greens for the first time. With and without vinegar… Not sure that’s my thing...

Gem mining… another obsession of Nikolas’. It was a bit of a gimmick but the kids had a blast. We bought a family size bucket and headed to the sluice. The minerals and other found specimens were very clearly planted. They didn’t know that. They had fun “gem minding” as Mia kept referring to it!

We had a few hours of daylight hours left which we spent in Asheville. More museums. The Health Museum is more a children’s museum and some gem and mineral museum whose name escapes me. Fair… Not worth paying the entry but a fair way to pass the time with our reciprocal museum membership. We wandered around downtown Asheville briefly. We aren’t shoppers and we were rather weary from all our previous hiking. So we had some very southern sushi for dinner! The kids endured the sushi for the reward afterwards; a trip to The Marble Slab for ice cream.

Monday, 18 April 2011

Mia’s choice for breakfast this morning; Panera or McD’s were her options from which to choose. You’ll never guess which she went for!! The breakfast of champions, Mickey D’s… Our sustenance to begin the day before heading out and hitting the road for the day. Destination; Asheville.

With a few stops along the way…

First stop,… Starbucks. And the Easter Bunny. Oh, and don’t forget the Nestle Tollhouse cookies! Oh, and Rack Room Shoes. Both kids needed new Crocs. No, none of it planned other than the Starbucks… That was very planned.

SciWorks Museum in Winston-Salem next up. Another fantastic museum! Lots of science to learn, a planetarium show to watch, some animals to see, a cache to do. We spent a lot of time at Mollie the otter’s habitat. Poor Mollie was lonely, her brother Ollie has recently passed. We had a blast keeping her company for a while! Good times, great memories. I think this is definitely one of my favorite of the museum’s we’ve been to. Will have to take a poll at the end of our vacay.

Next stop, Mum’s playground; a scrapbook store. Scrapbook Traditions. At least, I think that was the name of it. It was okay. If there is anything old you want and you want to pay a bit upmarket for it, then this is the place to be. If it’s new and trendy and reasonably priced, you’re in the wrong place. I found some poodles for our Poodle soccer player!! So, for me, a worthy trip! Otherwise (Kyla) not worth the trip really.

Our final destination, Asheville. Our home away from home for the next two nights. But first things first, dinner. After shaking the Urbanspoon shaker a few times, we settled upon Piazza. Our first choice with fantastic reviews is closed on Monday’s and Tuesday’s… Bummer. But we did well with our next choice. Best pie I’ve had in a long time! Scrum-diddli-umptous!

I dared Nikolas to eat a banana pepper. If he did it I promised to buy him some Go-Go's. He'll do anything for GoGo's. He ate the pepper. Fortunately for him, his Daddy was there looking out for him. Michael removed the seeds. He still made quite the face. But he swallowed it and earned himself some more GoGo's!

Sunday, 17 April 2011

After powering up at Panera, we began our day driving from cache to cache in the vicinity of the hotel. All told, our Spring Break GeoJourney finds number 11 by day’s end today; 3 yesterday and 8 today. Not bad but boy! Do we have some caching to do if we’re going to reach this goal of 40!

Next stop; Pullen Park! Alas, the carousel and mini train are under reconstruction and renovation… On to the next highly anticipated activity; the Marbles Kids Museum. Disappointment of kids disappointments!! It’s closed due to the lack of electricity from the tornado and storms. Agh… Good thing the Museum of Life and Sciences is nearby. And open!! Lunch (square PBJs?!) was rapidly consumed at the café on the top floor and we worked our way downstairs. A live demonstration to learn about eggs and why they are different colors and touch a dove, snake and alligator gave us a chance to rest our feet a bit. Animal Grossology was the special exhibit of the month which our Affiliate Museum membership got us into for free (good thing, it was okay but not worth paying extra for).

We decided to take a stab at Marbles again; joy of joys! It’s open! Yippeee!! It truly is a fantastic children’s museum!! We played hockey, raced cars, painted, filled a piggy bank, drove a bus, played at pirates, water play… You name it, we did it! Fun stuff!!

Dinner was chosen by Dad tonight; The Pit. Carolina style BBQ. The kids both tried fried green tomatoes and fried okra for the first time in their lives. Neither was overly enthusiastic about either option… I credit them for trying.

Saturday, 16 April 2011

So today we loaded up the mini van, hit the road and began our Spring Break!! A much anticipated and well earned break. Nothing big and ooh or aah like Disney but a little get away. Somewhere we've never been before; North Carolina. Raleigh and Asheville are our accomodation locales but everywhere around and about are our destinations.

So how, we have a goal of 40 GeoCaches to find while on Spring Break... It began as 100 and was quickly whittled down to a more reasonable number. Though, given the whopping 3 we found today... not so sure that that will be a feasible accomplishment. Our first cache was a confederate cemetary; quite interesting.

While on the road and perusing the guide book, we decided that a trip to the Duke Lemur Center would be a really cool thing to do. Reservations were recommended. So, cell phone handy, we called only to be told that, sure enough, no space but we can put you on a waiting list. Done. Meanwhile, let's head to the Marble Kids Museum. As we have turned off 85 and are heading that very direction we receive a call that the Lemur Center has had a cancellation and we're on for the 2:30 tour!! Yipppeee! Change in plans gang!

With some time to kill but not enough time to spend at our planned destination we stopped for a quick lunch at The Dog House before heading to the Museum of Life and Science. Our handily purchased Science Museum membership in Richmond is going to pay off quickly with all the museums around these parts! The Dog House... Interesting... Yet more justification to why I don't eat those nasty things and the kids love them... They were red... And that's not the ketchup I was seeing.

The Duke Lemur Center has potential. It could have been a fantastic experience. During the storm that was bowling through however, with outdoor exhibits and no way into the enclosures on this tour, it was a tad disappointing. We learned a lot, we didn't see much. Very interesting... 250 lemurs, native to Madagascar in Durham, North Carolina... Kind of an oddity really. That very storm was a tornado in downtown Raleigh... Good thing that the center had space for us or that is where we very well would have been! Somebody was watching out for us, thank God! No lemur pictures for me... They were all hiding inside or behind many layers of fencing.

It's been a very busy, very full day! Full of fun and excitment. Both kids are sawing logs while we sit/laze in bed killing time until our bedtime. On to new adventures tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Friday, 15 April 2011

The first layout I did with Allison's 2 page sketch over at Sketch Support this week was actually this single page. Given my druthers, I would stick in the comfort of one page layouts. But it's good to branch out, and what better why to do so than with Allison's sketches? There are some fantastic interpretations of the sketch, be sure to check them out!

Mia is SUCH a Daddy's girl. Period. There is no arguing that fact. These pictures tell it all. Taken during our latest trip to Great Wolf Lodge.

Thursday, 14 April 2011

I have been a fan of Core'dinations cardstock for ages, no secret there. In fact, I can still remember when I "discovered" them; it was a weekend crop up in Northern Virginia. And my first layout ever using Core was a Chinese New Year layout with Koi fish on it. The torn two tone Core was a perfect compliment to the flowy tails of the Koi! I have even been lucky enough to feature two of my layouts on their blog in the past!

Core'dinations cardstock is so immensely versatile; sand it, emboss it, ink it and as they say on the paper itself, love it! There is so much to love about Core!

The first layout features a piece of the already embossed cardstock which I sanded to bring out the texture. Perfect on a school layout! The bright colours really stand out!

Next up, another layout using some pre-embossed cardstock. Sand a bit here, tear a little there, ink it and it's a custom fit to my layout! Love how you can do that! You're getting a sneak peek here of a little something I did for Sketch Support too!

The third layout features Core'dinations in all of it's versatility; punched, stitched, torn, pre-embossed and self embossed and sanded! Oh and inked! I love the Black Magic line and how you can get the splash of colour to shine through! And look and the vibrancy of those colours! Sigh... I just love my Core'dinations!

Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed those layouts, down to the very "core" of them!! LOL!!

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

As you might have already noted, this is day 1 of my "take" on the latest 2 page sketch over at Sketch Suport. I did two layouts based on this sketch. This one, surprised me. I like the look of it sitting on Allison's blog. Up close and personal, there are just too many pictures on it and not enough "stuff"... I have to get over that need to put "stuff" and focus on the pictures, journaling and documenting the experience.

I used the March kit from 3 Scrappy Boys to do this layout. Mostly... That's another discovery/revelation for me. I can't use "just a kit". I know my stash pretty well and I know that there is always something else in it that looks perfect with the goodies in the kit. Fantastic kit, by the way! Love it. Always love the stuff I get from 3 Scrappy Boys. Definitely check them out if you're in the market for kits.

The pictures from this layout are of the boys last summer on probably one of THE hottest days we had. Mia was in a nature class at the park run by the park district and we had an hour to kill. Being clear across town and too far away to go home and come back, we decided to explore the park. It helped that there was a cache or two to seek out!